Jaguar F-Type In Italy

Conquering Italy With The Jaguar F-Type

Initially I thought it was kind of aggressive for Jaguar to parade a British sports car here in Italy, the spiritual home of the sports car, but now I’m realizing there’s nothing hostile about it: The F-Type belongs here.

The venerable British marque Jaguar built its reputation on two-seater sports cars, adapting the racetrack success of its D-Type into the landmark E-Type roadster — one of the most revered and beautiful cars in the history of transportation. Elegantly British and yet terminally visceral, the E-Type defined '60s modernist chic and gave men worldwide a simple ambition: to own one. Now, 52 years after the E-Type launched, Jaguar has returned to the two-seater roadster game with its much-hyped F-Type, the long-awaited successor of the E-Type. And to prove its mettle, the Brits dispatched a fleet of the stunning V6 S roadsters into the heart of Italy, the spiritual home of the sports car, to show they have nothing to fear — and to prove they have engineered a worthy successor. Here’s how it went down.

10:37 a.m. — Somewhere Over Umbria

We’re buzzing in an Astar B3 helicopter 900 feet above the countryside of Umbria, taking in the vast architecture of the Italian landscape with grateful gulps of enthusiasm. Everyone’s quiet; there is no chatting in the 850-horsepower chopper, just wide-eyed consumption of beauty. To say the least, it is a privileged view — from the bird’s eye miniaturization of the world to the financial rarity of the occasion. Under the rhythmic slicing of air, the symmetry of the world moves below us: the quilt of farms and their hedged pastures, the grid-like pattern of tract homes, the polka dot matrix of ancient vineyards, the terracotta prism of rooftop bricks. Even the shifting of sheep herds moving in ebbs and flows, perceptibly simultaneous from this vantage point. Something tells me this is not going to be any ordinary car launch.

12:42 p.m. — NUN Hotel, Spa

Once the helicopter landed at the Assisi private airport, blacked out Jaguar XJ limousines shuttled us to the 5-star NUN hotel, an ex-convent and prison built in 1275. If you believe in ghosts, then this place has some seriously messed-up mojo. Although that’s pretty hard to see right now from the spa I’m currently working my way through. The “Spa Museum” has four rooms, which you rotate through in order: the Tepidario with body-temperature pools, a 113-degree Caldario steam room and a punishing 140-degree Sudatorio Turkish bath. And then you finish it off in the Frigidario, a room piled knee-high with ice. The frigid shower waters — bubbling forth from the ancient Perlasario Spring below — are infused with essential oils and lilac. Its cold sharpness meeting my steaming scalp as the lavender dances in my nostrils is an indulgence usually reserved for kings. Seeing as I didn’t sleep on the flight over, and it’s nearly 4 a.m. my time, it’s a well needed wake-up call.

2:17 p.m. — NUN Hotel

We’re in the chapel of the nunnery that has now been converted into a high-tech business conference room. Let’s hope both the abused nuns and homicidal prisoners see the humor in this. Jaguar executives are waxing eloquent about their sparkling new F-Type, the Great Roadster Hope of the esteemed British brand. The first true sports car Jag has built since the 1960s, the F-Type clearly has lofty ambitions: It doesn’t just want to be buoyantly compared to other great sports cars; it wants to maul them. “We’ve been absent for far too long,” says Jaguar Design Executive Julian Thompson, remarking on the half-century recess since the iconic E-Type. He then goes on to list the car’s many design features. “All Jaguars have to look fast,” he says confidently, “even when they are standing still.”

2:34 p.m. — NUN Hotel Valet

Outside of the NUN, getting my first glimpse of the V6 S Jag in person. Holy crap, Thompson was right — the car looks blisteringly fast. Even while idling it looks like it’s in mid sprint. Although a stunner in photos, the F-Type is an entirely different beast in person. It is beautifully proportioned, from its deep, tiburón grill to its dramatic rear haunches and chrome-tipped dual-exhaust pipes. While it purports to harken back to Jaguar’s once-vaunted history, there is nothing “retro” in the F-Type’s design.

With the lone exception of the E-Type-referencing horizontal tail lights, it is ultimately modern, even in a segment that is often considered anachronistic. Many experts have sounded the death knell for the “sports car” in this mileage-focused, utility-oriented automotive landscape. The F-Type makes these talking heads look like slack-jawed buffoons.

4:30 p.m. — Backroads of Umbria

Driving through ungodly beautiful province of Perugia. Although less known than its westerly neighbor, Tuscany, Umbria is stunning. Driving these roads in an F-Type is the perfect intersection of vehicle and terrain. Initially I thought it was kind of aggressive for Jaguar to parade a British sports car here in Italy, the spiritual home of the sports car, but now I’m realizing there’s nothing hostile about it: The F-Type belongs here. It is an honored guest, the pure distillation of British engineering invited to enjoy the winding roads of central Italy. It is a great cat prowling its natural savannah.